New Baseball Season Brings Tech to Track Player Skills

Another season, more new tech: Today, digital technology tracks baseball players' performances generating reams of new stats that you won't see on baseball cards. This season, coaches won't just know a player's RBIs, but how quickly he fields a fly ball and how efficiently he rounds the bases.

The two most observant scouts for the San Francisco Giants watch every home game from their reserved seats—high up on the first and third baselines. They measure how far and fast the center fielder travels to snag a shallow looper and record the exact distance of every hit ball, fair or foul. And, since they are completely electronic, these scouts never need to get up for the seventh-inning stretch.

More From Popular Mechanics

Last season, San Francisco's AT&T Park was the testing ground for a prototype of Field f/x, a camera and software system developed by Bay Area company Sportvision. Using images from the system's twin 5-megapixel cameras, Field f/x's software automatically tags the location of the ball and each player 15 times per second. This information can later be analyzed to shed light on aspects of a player's performance that have been largely subjective, such as arm strength and efficiency in running bases. "This technology opens up the possibility of quantifying even more statistics that people never would have known," says Bill Schlough, the Giants' chief information officer. The numbers won't be found on the backs of baseball cards—the Giants treat the new stats as trade secrets. They want to use them to guide trades, individualize coaching and optimize game-day player matchups.

The company says the stats could be used on TV broadcasts and fantasy-league websites.

Old Sport, New Metrics

Measurable statistics like batting average or on-base percentage make it easy to grade the offensive skills of players. Now, with Field f/x, talent scouts are applying quantitative analysis to the harder-to-track areas of a player's ability.

Base Runners: Field f/x charts the base paths to reveal which players run the most efficient routes. After a runner steals a base, Field f/x can determine if he could have left later in the pitcher's windup.

Catcher: Cameras measure the strength and accuracy of the catcher's throwing arm, from home plate to the base being stolen.

Outfielders: If a center fielder makes a diving catch, analysis can determine why he dove—was it a slow reaction to a routine shot or did the batter hit the ball outside the player's fielding range, forcing him to make a speedy play? Such metrics can influence training.

Infielders: One of the greatest advantages of Field f/x is its ability to track the response time of infielders. Scouts can detect which shortstops react quickest to grounders, attaching data to a player's fielding range.